Marina O'Loughlin on restaurants + Restaurants | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/marina-o-loughlin-on-restaurants+restaurants
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The Quality Chop House, London EC1: ‘An almost pitch-perfect meal’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/06/quality-chop-house-london-ec1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>Here is that rarest of creatures, a supremely talented chef who appears to be ego-free </p><p>I was sad when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g81LCwrU-7k">Denis Leary was accused of nicking other comedians’ work</a>. I liked him a lot, before he went all Hollywood. I particularly liked his thoughts on happiness, how, rather than being any kind of permanent state, it only ever comes in blasts. “Nobody’s happy,” he spat in his abrasive way. “It comes in small doses, folks: it’s a cigarette butt, or a chocolate-chip cookie, or a five-second orgasm. You come, you eat the cookie, you smoke the butt, you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning and you go to fucking work. That is it, end of fucking list.”</p><p>I’m remembering this as I walk the back streets of Clerkenwell with the distinct mulchy tang of autumn in the air. A favourite part of a great city, my favourite season, en route to a favourite restaurant where I’ll be eating with a favourite person: that’s my cookie-cig-butt-orgasm right there. I could not be happier.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/15/marina-oloughlin-melur-restaurant-review">Melur, London W2: ‘There are treasures here’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/06/quality-chop-house-london-ec1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsBritish food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 06 Oct 2017 13:00:53 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/06/quality-chop-house-london-ec1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-10-06T13:00:53ZFlavour Bastard, London W1: ‘There’s me thinking Sexy Fish was as bad as it got’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/29/flavour-bastard-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>Rather than the screechy jazz, Nero should be fiddling somewhere in the background </p><p>By the time you read this, everything that can possibly be said about this place’s attention-seeking name will have probably been said by <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/fay-maschler-reviews-flavour-b-fusion-of-flavours-feels-illegitimate-a3628006.html">other more rapid-response observers</a>. (Re: that attention-seeking – hey, it works.) So I’ll content myself with telling you about it in action. The name? Brace yourselves: it’s <a href="https://flavourbastard.com/">Flavour Bastard</a>. Roll that around your tongue: <em>flaaavour baaastaard</em>. And there’s me thinking <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/26/sexy-fish-london-restaurant-review-marina-o-loughlin">Sexy Fish</a> was as bad as it got.</p><p>When I call to book, the person who answers the phone comes up with something that sounds like, “Good evening [normal voice], FLAVOUR [bellowed],” followed by a tiny, indecipherable, mouse-like squeak. The pattern is repeated when we arrive: “Hello, welcome to FLAVOUR *tiny, mouse-like squeak*.” We may be laughing like loons, but staff appear to be less amused and more terminally embarrassed.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/18/neo-bistro-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Neo Bistro, London W1: ‘This is uncharted territory for the branché and cool’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/29/flavour-bastard-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleIndian food and drinkFri, 29 Sep 2017 13:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/29/flavour-bastard-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-09-29T13:00:04ZThe Wigmore, London W1: ‘Silly? A bit. Delicious? Oh yes’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/22/the-wigmore-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>‘It says it’s a pub, but it’s as far removed from Wetherspoons as it’s possible to be’</p><p>What even is a pub, anyway? I recently wrote elsewhere about <a href="https://london.eater.com/2017/7/14/15946504/each-to-their-own-marina-oloughlin-pubs-restaurants">my dislike of the classic, old-geezer, sticky-carpeted boozer</a>, and as a result got lambasted by many old geezers who live in the internet: pleasingly ironic, as the thrust of the piece was “each to their own”. Being the reasonable chap that I mostly am, I determined to celebrate the species, to find one I could write about with unalloyed positivity. Which brings me to <a href="http://the-wigmore.co.uk/">The Wigmore</a>, a new “pub” attached to the supremely swish Langham Hotel.</p><p>But is it actually a pub? It is, as the definition goes, “an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic beverages including beer (such as ale) and cider”. Its list includes pumps and bottles, its own Wigmore Saison served in tankers, and beers both traditional and arcane. There are also creative cocktails in their own weeny tankards and wines on tap. Basically, all the alcoholic beverages any heart could desire.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/28/xu-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Xu, London W1: ‘Honestly: swoon’ | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/22/the-wigmore-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 22 Sep 2017 13:00:48 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/22/the-wigmore-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-09-22T13:00:48ZMelur, London W2: ‘There are treasures here’ – restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/15/marina-oloughlin-melur-restaurant-review
<p>Forget kerb appeal – this Malaysian restaurant seems almost calculated to repel. But persevere…</p><p>When I walk into a restaurant and one of the other diners is Kalpana Sugendran Sugendran, it’s as if all my Christmases have come at once to the bottom of a scruffy flight of stairs on the Edgware Road. Who he? Why, he’s the Roti King, boss of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/25/roti-king-london-restaurant-review">the eponymous Euston restaurant</a>, one of my absolute London favourites. His presence here, chatting to the owner like an old friend, means more to me than any number of Michelins or World’s 50 Best or what-bleeding-ever.</p><p><a href="http://www.melurlondon.co.uk/contact.html">Melur</a> has been popping up on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/221694685/melur-london/">the timelines of the kind of Instagram otaku</a> who takes the search for bergedil or ayam berlada hijau very seriously indeed. That’s where it came to my attention: just as well, because nothing else here is exactly designed to draw in the passerby – forget any kind of kerb appeal. I follow the don’t-read-book-by-cover ethos as much as the next culinary nerd, I know the deal whereby the swankiest outpost is not necessarily the best, but Melur seems almost calculated to repel. From leery, acid-coloured posters of the menu attempting to camouflage the building works next door to those green-walled, scuffed stairs leading down to a windowless basement, it really does not give a gal the glad eye.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/24/popolo-shoreditch-london-ec2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Popolo, London EC2: ‘I’d go back weekly if I&nbsp;could’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/15/marina-oloughlin-melur-restaurant-review">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 15 Sep 2017 13:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/15/marina-oloughlin-melur-restaurant-reviewPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-09-15T13:00:08ZOktopus, Liverpool L1: ‘It’s enormous fun’https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/08/oktopus-liverpool-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>‘Even after drinking quantities of wine and beer, and eating virtually every dish on the menu, the bill still comes as caress rather than headbutt’</p><p>Perfection is so overrated: flawless beauty is often not in the least bit sexy. “Fun” events regimented like military campaigns: no thanks. And restaurants that concentrate too hard on chilly consistency are less purely enjoyable than altogether less, um, anal establishments. I’ve never, for instance, had a bad meal at any Gordon Ramsay outpost: never. But neither have I paid up in shivering anticipation of a return visit. It’s a case of being impressed by the technical excellence, while feeling as processed as the filling in the signature shellfish raviolo. I recently attempted dinner at an ocakbaşı on Stoke Newington’s Turkish strip: the detergent bottle stayed on the table, unnoticed by staff, and we waited an hour with nothing to eat. Eventually, the handsome owner held up his hands, packaged our fine, smoky meats and puffy charred bread in a takeaway bag and didn’t charge us a penny. I’d go back tomorrow. (Yes, <a href="https://www.mangal2.com/">Mangal 2</a>: I do mean you.)</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/pascere-brighton-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Pascere, Brighton: ‘This is no-messing brilliance’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/08/oktopus-liverpool-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleLiverpool holidaysFri, 08 Sep 2017 13:00:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/08/oktopus-liverpool-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianPhotograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianMarina O'Loughlin2017-09-08T13:00:39ZThe India Club, London WC2: ‘I go back again and again'https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/01/the-india-club-strand-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>I love it in the same way I’m drawn to the novels of Anita Brookner or EM Forster</p><p>Up two flights of what look like flophouse stairs, accessed via an easily missed entrance at the Aldwych end of The Strand, is&nbsp;a restaurant that has no business existing in the centre of one of the world’s most rapacious cities. A&nbsp;blackboard announcing Happy Hour in their “1940s lounge bar” has&nbsp;collapsed over a cracked lobby mosaic; I’m not sure if this is deliberate impediment or an omen.</p><p>Since 1946, <a href="http://www.strand-continental.co.uk/Restaurant_%26_Bar.html">The India Club</a> has&nbsp;lived in the Hotel Strand Continental, an accommodation where you can rent four-person dorms <a href="http://www.strand-continental.co.uk/Rooms_%26_Bookings.html">“from £20 per bed per night”</a>. Formerly a haunt of civil servants and diplomats from the nearby High Commission of India (including the Club’s founder, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._K._Krishna_Menon">VK Krishna Menon</a>), this unreconstructed canteen, with its mustard walls, wood-laminated tables and scab-coloured linoleum floors, was formerly a hotbed of political machination. Lugubrious oil paintings of Gandhi and Britain’s first Asian MP, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/jul/26/election-naoroji-finsbury-1892">Dadabhai Naoroji</a>, watch as we peel apart plastic-coated menu pages.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/28/xu-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Xu, London W1: ‘Honestly: swoon’ | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/01/the-india-club-strand-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsIndian food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 01 Sep 2017 13:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/01/the-india-club-strand-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverPhotograph: Andy Hall for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-09-01T13:00:08ZPrawn On The Lawn, London N1: ‘Delight after delight’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/25/prawn-on-the-lawn-london-n1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>‘This is all about the joys of letting good food speak for itself’</p><p>On one of the only sweltering days of this dismal summer, thoughts turn to chilled rosé and sweet, sweet seafood. Sadly, we’re not on the ozone-licked beaches of Whitstable or Whitby, but in the sweating heart of the city. And it’s fair to say that gritty old St Paul’s Road in Highbury, north London, isn’t offering the sunsets-kissing-the-waves environment I’m hankering after.</p><p>But this is where we find <a href="http://prawnonthelawn.com/">Prawn On The Lawn</a>, and inside this cool, tiled and blackboarded little temple to the piscine, you could close your eyes and swear it’s the ocean you’re hearing, rather than the rumble of traffic trundling past the Sainsbury’s opposite. This is all about the joys of letting good ingredients speak for themselves: the small open kitchen does very little to the sea creatures piled on the ice-lined counter – in addition to being a restaurant, it’s a fully-functioning fishmonger – other than applying heat and the odd, frequently Asian-style aromatic. And sometimes it just does nothing at all: why faff with oysters this briny and pristine? Nothing much is allowed to distract from the sinking of teeth into the freshest possible fish: simple, almost primeval pleasure.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/19/rick-stein-sandbanks-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Rick Stein, Sandbanks: ‘I’m not buying it’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/25/prawn-on-the-lawn-london-n1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFishSeafoodFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 25 Aug 2017 13:00:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/25/prawn-on-the-lawn-london-n1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-08-25T13:00:07ZNeo Bistro, London W1: ‘This is uncharted territory for the branché and cool’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/18/neo-bistro-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>Relaxed, approachable environment, beautifully assured cooking – hell, this bistronomy lark might have something going for it, after all</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/13/lefooding-paris-chefs-bistronomy">The bistronomy movement</a> was one of the biggest revolutions to hit restaurants in recent-ish years. Hotshot young chefs, chafing against the tyranny of the toque and the dictatorship of the mainstream guides, ditched starched linen, lobster and foie gras, and launched stripped-back ateliers where they could wreak wizardry with le wasabi, turning everyone on to trotters and terrines.</p><p>In Paris, that is. Here, it was less revolution and more ripple, possibly because we don’t have centuries of haute cuisine bullying to rebel against, and already had gastropubs doing ambitious stuff without the attitude. This may be why bistronomy bigwig <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/11/frenchie-london-wc2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Greg Marchand’s Frenchie</a> landed in London with less of the expected fanfare, and why the scene’s superstar, Iñaki Aizpitarte, shuffled off home, not so much celebrated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/26/le-chabanais-restaurant-review-jay-rayner">as eviscerated</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/18/neo-bistro-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkBritish food and drinkLife and styleFri, 18 Aug 2017 13:00:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/18/neo-bistro-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-08-18T13:00:23ZPascere, Brighton: ‘This is no-messing brilliance’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/pascere-brighton-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>The combination of artistry with an understanding of what people want to eat, as opposed to what the chef wants to inflict on us, is Three Bears just right </p><p>The most exquisite thing that we eat at <a href="https://www.pascere.co.uk/">this new addition to Brighton’s restaurant scene</a> is the simplest: a tiny crab tartlet with pastry so fragile, you wonder at its capacity to support its quantities of dewy, sweet white Portland crab meat and flourish of airy hollandaise, bisque-rich with the swansong of various crustacea and crabby bits and pieces. This is no-messing brilliance.</p><p>But, despite worrying menu descriptions, none of our subsequent dishes has a superfluous element. I’ve allowed myself an evil guffaw at the thought of “English pea custard” with “lavender brioche”. Seriously: bwahahah, and where did I leave my claw sharpener? But it’s serene and mellifluous, the emerald “custard” more like another iteration of hollandaise, vivid with peas both pureed and raw, the brioche crisp little cubes lurking in its depths, the lavender more a frisson of a memory of a scent than anything by Yardley.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/21/the-ned-london-ec2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">The Ned, London EC2: ‘It’s Harrods food hall crossed with Vegas’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/pascere-brighton-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkBritish food and drinkLife and styleFri, 11 Aug 2017 13:00:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/pascere-brighton-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-08-11T13:00:16ZStark, Broadstairs, Kent: ‘I find it hard to pick holes’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/04/stark-broadstairs-kent-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>This chef, in his Munchkin empire with its single, solitary fridge, is the real deal</p><p>In 10 years or so years of living in this bucket-and-spade Kentish seaside town, I’ve never had the urge to review on my doorstep. Sure, I’ve ventured to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/16/the-riz-margate-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Margate</a>, or Dalston-sur-Mer, as local snark goes, but preserved-in-aspic Broadstairs, nuh.</p><p>I’ve been to <a href="https://www.starkfood.co.uk/">Stark</a> three times, each time thinking, “I can’t write about this.” It’s ludicrously tiny, kitchen the size of a broom cupboard: could it cope with the attention? They don’t even have functioning loos: there’s an arrangement with the pub across the road. Will some terrible jobsworth hammer them for it? (If they do, they’ll have me to answer to.) It’s open Wednesday to Saturday evenings only, too, so is it an actual restaurant or more like a supper club?</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/24/the-wildebeest-stoke-holy-cross-norfolk-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">The Wildebeest, Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk: ‘It’s an age since I’ve come across a menu quite this verbose’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/04/stark-broadstairs-kent-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleKent holidaysFri, 04 Aug 2017 13:00:44 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/04/stark-broadstairs-kent-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-08-04T13:00:44ZXu, London W1: ‘Honestly: swoon’ | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/28/xu-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>‘Good Peking duck is one of my desert island dishes, but this shortrib boots that into the sea’</p><p>Sitting in <a href="http://xulondon.com/">Xu</a>’s narrow, dark-panelled interior, I&nbsp;fancy myself not in slightly grubby lower Rupert Street – not quite Soho, not quite Chinatown – but the waiting room of a 30s train station, back when women wore ruby lips and cigarettes didn’t kill you. It’s hard to&nbsp;believe that outside is all tourists trying to find <a href="http://ripleyslondon.com">Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!</a> rather than the tropics. In here, booths are upholstered in Ladurée macaron colours and ceiling fans circle languidly; from a private room comes the clack of mahjong tiles and a “tea master” opens and closes many drawers containing perfumed teas: oolongs, pu-erhs and assams. Xu has a dreamlike quality.</p><p>The food, though, is emphatically of today. The people behind the wildly successful <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/12/bao-fitzrovia-restaurant-review">Bao</a> – sister and brother <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/01/wai-ting-chung-last-bites">Wai Ting Chung</a> and Shing Tat Chung, and Shing’s wife, Erchen Chang – have crafted a menu as distinctive as our surroundings: nominally Taiwanese, but peppered with Cantonese accents and the trio’s typically thoughtful, creative touches. Early controversial dishes (<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giles-coren-reviews-xu-london-20ltlt0dv">the much-maligned chickens’ feet</a>) have been ditched, and now even seemingly throwaway elements thrill: jerkies (bak kwa) of pork, beef and lamb come, like intensely meaty After Eights, in waxed paper wraps and a&nbsp;rectangular wooden box, to be furled around pickled ginger, fresh mint relish or smoky pepper sauce, each a leathery little pleasure.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/28/dastaan-ewell-epsom-indian-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Dastaan, Ewell, Surrey: ‘Such freshness, such zip and zing’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/28/xu-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkChinese food and drinkLife and styleFri, 28 Jul 2017 13:00:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/28/xu-london-w1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-07-28T13:00:22ZThe Ned, London EC2: ‘It’s Harrods food hall crossed with Vegas’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/21/the-ned-london-ec2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>The Ned, Soho House’s new £200m flagship hotel, boasts all of nine restaurants. Are they any good? Our award-winning restaurant critic finds out</p><p>The only possible reaction when first walking through the doors of <a href="https://www.thened.com/#">The Ned</a> is a gasp. Wow! The soaring height, towering windows, the many African verdite columns, the plush upholstery, the acres of polished oak and cherrywood and marble. People who dislike London will welcome it as an avatar for all that’s wrong with the bloated, metropolitan elite-germinating capital: at a reported cost of £200m, it’s a hosanna to consumption, to pin-striped hustlers, to bears and bulls and money, money, money. (Of course, to me and my fellow Scots, the name is pant-wettingly funny. <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ned">Look it up</a>.) Still, by any standard, it’s mighty impressive.</p><p>This extraordinary development – 252-bedroom hotel, nine restaurants, roof terrace bar, two pools, a spa – comes from Soho House &amp; Co with US boutique hotel group Sydell (NoMad, Saguaro). <a href="http://www.cityam.com/259344/nick-jones-interview-soho-house-founder-ned-his-new-200m">In an interview</a>, Ned supremo Nick Jones – yep, still chortling – said that after his “art house” Soho Houses, this is “my chance to do a blockbuster”. And blockbuster it most assuredly is, this Edwin “Ned” Lutyens-designed, grade 1-listed former Midland Bank headquarters beside the Bank of England. My task is to eat at every restaurant from breakfast to late night; one that, after two days in the place, starts to feel more than a little Sisyphean.</p><p>As befits anywhere aimed at masters of the universe, there are places shuttered to the likes of you and me</p><p>The most striking thing about the various outlets is that they all look exactly the bloody same</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/21/the-ned-london-ec2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 21 Jul 2017 13:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/21/the-ned-london-ec2-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-07-21T13:00:08ZHenrietta, London WC2: ‘An antidote to meaty, fatty, salty bro food’ – restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/14/henrietta-london-wc2-ollie-dabbous-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>I wonder if they’re deliberately targeting a female audience? </p><p>A magazine editor gets in touch, laughing, to tell me about a new “clean-eating”-type mini-chain. They had initially let customers choose from the various salads and quinoa-based assemblies on offer, but – disaster! – they were doing so in a way that was not visually appealing enough. People were Instagramming brown things! So they promptly took the choice out of the public’s hands: putting lentils and sweet potato on the same plate was evidently brand-denting horror beyond imagining.</p><p>I’m remembering this as food starts arriving at <a href="https://www.henriettahotel.com/">Henrietta</a>, the restaurant of a new Covent Garden boutique hotel as light and airy and, well, feminine as its name. We’re immersed in “a flora and fauna atmosphere”, apparently, an aesthetic that extends to the food. Dishes are pastel-hued, scattered with petals, artfully composed: edible Hello Kitty kawaii. <a href="https://www.eater.com/authors/bill-addison">Eater’s Bill Addison</a> has christened this “the New Romanticism”, as practised by the likes of New York’s <a href="http://wildair.nyc/">Wildair</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/30/estela-restaurant-review-jay-rayner">Estela</a> (and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/23/pidgin-london-e8-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Pidgin</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/07/lorne-london-sw1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Lorne</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/18/the-wilderness-birmingham-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">The Wilderness</a> over here). The style is rampaging through forward-looking kitchens like decorative bindweed.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/23/madame-d-london-e1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Madame D, London E1: ‘Consider every fibre of my palate fully stimulated’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/14/henrietta-london-wc2-ollie-dabbous-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsOllie DabbousFood & drinkBritish food and drinkLife and styleFri, 14 Jul 2017 13:00:24 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/14/henrietta-london-wc2-ollie-dabbous-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-07-14T13:00:24ZKuch, Bristol: ‘A fine place to be’ – restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/07/kuch-bristol-restaurant-review-berthas-pizza-grillstock-smokeshack-marina-oloughlin
<p>Dishes are sweet from pomegranate and date molasses, tangy from tamarind, pungent with dried lime or intensely smoky from the grill. Or all the above at the same time</p><p>Even the most assiduously laid plans can go awry. There I was, en route to Bristol, hotel booked and paid for, reservation confirmed in exactly the kind of cool, clever new restaurant that the city specialises in. And then bereavement struck and the restaurant was closed. Nobody can prepare for the Reaper. All my empathy and best wishes to those concerned. I’ll be back, I hope.</p><p>But, in the meantime, what to do? Where to go? All the likely suspects were booked up, so I decided to head for places rarely covered by reviews: not brand new, no big name attached and, in one case, not even an actual restaurant.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/18/the-wilderness-birmingham-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">The Wilderness, Birmingham: ‘This is dinner as theatrical performance’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/07/kuch-bristol-restaurant-review-berthas-pizza-grillstock-smokeshack-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleMiddle Eastern food and drinkItalian food and drinkBarbecueBristol holidaysFri, 07 Jul 2017 13:00:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/07/kuch-bristol-restaurant-review-berthas-pizza-grillstock-smokeshack-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Adam Gasson for the GuardianPhotograph: Adam Gasson for the GuardianMarina O'Loughlin2017-07-07T13:00:26ZLupins, London SE1: ‘This is a find’ – restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/30/lupins-london-se1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>The chocolate mousse is an outrageous creation, the sort of thing that should only be eaten behind closed doors</p><p>Spring onions dredged in cornmeal and fried until the green spears are pleasingly almost-scorched, the white bulbs a soft, sweet squidge, and their popcorny carapace a crunchy contrast: what genius is this? Utterly simple, completely seductive. Why haven’t we all been coating and deep-frying scallions for decades? Dunking these in chipotle mayo, I imagine festivals dedicated to the things, as the Catalans do with their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jan/11/calcots-food-festival-catalonia-spring-onions">calçots</a>.</p><p>This dish is typical of the menu at a newly opened little outfit near London Bridge that promises “seasonal British produce with a splash of sunshine”: at its base something familiar, the finished item a frisson of delicious novelty. It was the editor of another newspaper who insisted I try <a href="http://www.lupinslondon.com/">Lupins</a>, and while he’s not someone whose printed output I’m normally guided by, he sure as hell knows his restaurant, er, onions. This is a find.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/09/stoke-house-london-sw1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Stoke House, London SW1: ‘You'd have to pitchfork me to get me near the place again’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/30/lupins-london-se1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkBritish food and drinkLife and styleFri, 30 Jun 2017 13:00:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/30/lupins-london-se1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-06-30T13:00:31ZMadame D, London E1: ‘Consider every fibre of my palate fully stimulated’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/23/madame-d-london-e1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>It’s not often I come out of a restaurant and immediately want to go back to eat the rest of the shortish menu. Possibly all by myself </p><p>You could be forgiven for suspecting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Madame.D.London/">Madame D</a> to be a concept in search of a restaurant. Of being the output of some kind of ideas incubator team feverishly poring over a list of recent London successes – the one where they cook <a href="http://www.kilnsoho.com">northern Thai food over fire</a>, the one where they <a href="http://www.duckandwafflelocal.com/eat-in/all-day/">put duck in doughnuts</a>, the one where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/07/over-london-se1-restaurant-review-pizza-marina-oloughlin">the pizza is made with seawater</a>, the one where <a href="http://ballsandcompany.london/">all the food is ball-shaped </a>– in search of something to tumesce the tastebuds of a jaded capital, something that hasn’t already been done.</p><p>You could. And, I confess, when I heard the phrase “Himalayan sharing plates”, I sure as hell did. I also heard the words “communal tables” and “above a pub”, and felt about as enthusiastic as I’d be about a night drinking bitter at the cricket club with Piers Morgan. But then I realised it comes from the same team as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/24/gunpowder-london-e1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">the rather wonderful Gunpowder</a>. And now, having been there, all suspicion has fled. I’m too busy being excited about the food.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/12/swan-shakespeares-globe-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe, London SE1: 'What’s British about tortellini?’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/23/madame-d-london-e1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsIndian food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 23 Jun 2017 13:00:25 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/23/madame-d-london-e1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-06-23T13:00:25ZBilson Eleven, Glasgow: ‘The arse-clenching pretension of it all’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/16/bilson-eleven-dennistoun-glasgow-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>The pole-up-jacksie staff robotically recite every component of every dish with the animation and charm of a Theresa May interview </p><p>How dare I? How dare I be critical about a small, new indie restaurant, its name an elision of the chef/owner’s two sons (and the number of tables they, er, used to have)? Where it’s clearly the work of the bleeding inevitable passionate maverick who has dedicated his life, soul, savings? I usually don’t dare: these are the reviews I hate to write, so I spend an uncomfortable first few courses of <a href="http://bilsoneleven.co.uk">Bilson Eleven</a>’s £49 tasting menu frantically trying to look on the bright side, make allowances. Warm bread with butter whipped with malt: nice. Amuse bouche referencing a ploughman’s lunch: not bad, with its bendy little horseradish and salmon cracker and ramekin layered with ham hough, pickled onion and cheese foam. Oh god, foam. But, yeah, not bad.</p><p>We’re back with the foams, gels and deconstructions like it’s the early noughties. “Curried skink” offers a small fillet of mustard-and-peppered haddock and cumin-laced potato foam, blobs of acrid lime pickle gel and dense little blocks fashioned from potato and leek – not so much dish as gustatory jigsaw. Chicken liver parfait isn’t awful, just odd: over-boozed, sweet with quince, its near-liquid nature not conducive to being eaten with a fork, despite crumbs of crisped chicken skin, chunks of brioche and tiny dice of chicken mousseline, pointless in its creamy egg-white blandness. There’s a light touch with desserts – sticky malt cake with a smear of smoky Talisker custard – and a heavy touch with excellent cheeses: generous and with an Auld Alliance theme. The heather-coloured chairs are comfortable. I’m tempted to note “good for Glasgow”, but I’m not entirely stupid.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/16/bilson-eleven-dennistoun-glasgow-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleGlasgowFri, 16 Jun 2017 13:00:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/16/bilson-eleven-dennistoun-glasgow-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Martin Hunter for the GuardianPhotograph: Martin Hunter for the GuardianMarina O'Loughlin2017-06-16T13:00:09ZStoke House, London SW1: ‘You'd have to pitchfork me to get me near the place again’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/09/stoke-house-london-sw1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>‘Salmon comes as pallid, morose and wanly pink as an unwilling bridesmaid’</p><p>If, as Dante imagined, Hell is where sins are punished with your own bespoke and exquisite torture, mine might look a lot like the new Nova complex in Victoria. I’ll be condemned to wander its echoing concrete corridors, blasted by a gritty wind, lugging myself from spreadsheet-designed outlet to concept-driven “fast casual”, forever cramming joyless food into blighted face, eating, bloating, never satisfied.</p><p>There will be awful “happy hours” at Jason Atherton’s <a href="http://haicenato.co.uk/bar/">The Drunken Oyster</a> above his basic-bitch <a href="http://haicenato.co.uk/">Hai Cenato</a>, where the grimly flirtatious barman spends way too long creating “the best martini you’ve ever tasted, laydee”. A weeny glass of unremarkable spirit that has been shoogled with ice: 12 quid aye-thank-yew. Or a “taptail”: dear God, I’m sorry for my sins already. There’ll be days spent painfully ingesting the bottomless brunch at sports bar <a href="http://www.greenwoodlondon.com">Greenwood</a>, while bellowing salarymen play ping-pong or pool; or feeling the tinny jangle of my fillings as they flinch from the sugary, Oliver Bonas tweeness of “Aussie-style” <a href="http://www.daisygreenfood.com/venues/timmy-green">Timmy Green</a> and an eternity of flabby popcorn shrimp, while nobody can be arsed to clean tables. There will be chain pizzas and doughnuts: torment by mass-produced carb. Should Satan momentarily turn his back, I’ll scuttle to the estimable <a href="http://www.aster-restaurant.com">Aster</a> for smoked fish, where the al-fresco seating, desperately prettified by floral garlands, looks like a pass-ag reproach to its surroundings.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/28/dastaan-ewell-epsom-indian-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Dastaan, Ewell, Surrey: ‘Such freshness, such zip and zing’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/09/stoke-house-london-sw1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsBritish food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 09 Jun 2017 13:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/09/stoke-house-london-sw1-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-06-09T13:00:02ZArbequina, Oxford: ‘It sees me ordering a second bottle at lunch’ – restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/02/arbequina-oxford-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin
<p>Arbequina’s tortilla is perfect: blistered exterior, alluringly sloppy interior, the potatoes collapsing among properly caramelised onions</p><p>How you feel about overt restaurant plagiarism depends very much on how precious you are. On the one hand are the don’t-give-a-monkey’s brigade. So a restaurant has “borrowed” from another? Who cares if the food is good? On the other – and I have on occasion fallen into this pursed-lips camp myself – is the irritation that comes when you know something has been lifted wholesale from a more creative original. There’s a Twitter hashtag – of course there is – something like #copy****s. People get quite cross.</p><p>Anyway, to Oxford, where I’ve long since given up trying to get a table at wildly oversubscribed <a href="http://olisthai.com">Oli’s Thai</a>, prompted by news that its owner Rufus Thurston has teamed up with Ben Whyles of former east Oxford stalwart Door 74, and opened a tapas joint, <a href="http://arbequina.co.uk/">Arbequina</a>.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/28/dastaan-ewell-epsom-indian-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Dastaan, Ewell, Surrey: ‘Such freshness, such zip and zing’ – restaurant review</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/02/arbequina-oxford-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsFood & drinkSpanish food and drinkLife and styleFri, 02 Jun 2017 13:00:25 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/02/arbequina-oxford-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlinPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverPhotograph: Sophia Evans for the ObserverMarina O'Loughlin2017-06-02T13:00:25ZWhere The Light Gets In, Stockport: ‘The most exciting food I’ve eaten in years’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlinhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/26/where-the-light-gets-in-stockport-greater-manchester-restaurant-review-marin-oloughlin
<p>Not so much new Nordic as new northern, this is a procession of brilliance </p><p>Let’s get it out of the way from the get-go: <a href="http://wtlgi.co/">Where The Light Gets In</a> serves the most exciting food I’ve had in years. And it’s not in London, Copenhagen or Portland, Oregon; it’s in Stockport. Never have I trudged so dutifully to a destination only to exit at the other end quite so starey-eyed and evangelical.</p><p>Stockport: seriously? Before high horses are clambered upon, chef/owner Sam Buckley is equally wry about the location. It is, simply, not where you’d expect this kind of firecracker creativity in £65-a-head, tasting-menu-only format. Stockport boasts restaurants called <a href="http://www.elviskitchen.net">Elvis’ Kitchen</a> (“three-course luxury meal cooked by the ELVIS chef”, which, if I’m honest, appeals hugely). And the town centre is not, well, edifying. But here, around the old market building, there’s a pleasing, brick-lined moodiness, the air scented with malt from <a href="https://www.robinsonsbrewery.com">the Robinsons brewery</a>. Finding this former coffee warehouse proves tricky: we teeter down vertiginous Rostron Brow (“famous for its 19th-century alehouses of ill repute”) more than once before we find the entrance. So far, so Lowry. Inside, it’s a different matter, not so much open kitchen as a vast, lustworthy actual kitchen with Ercol tables dotted around. It’s the ultimate, wood-burning-stove-heated loft pad with rooftop views.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jan/27/mei-dim-manchester-restaurant-review-marina-oloughlin">Mei Dim, Manchester: ‘What Chinatowns used to be like’ – restaurant review | Marina O’Loughlin</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/26/where-the-light-gets-in-stockport-greater-manchester-restaurant-review-marin-oloughlin">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsBritish food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFri, 26 May 2017 13:00:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/26/where-the-light-gets-in-stockport-greater-manchester-restaurant-review-marin-oloughlinPhotograph: Rebecca Lupton for the GuardianPhotograph: Rebecca Lupton for the GuardianMarina O'Loughlin2017-05-26T13:00:12Z